NEW BURRS STATION OPENS - THEN CLOSES
Preservation’s newest station was graced with Flying Scotsman’s presence for its opening on October 13 - then closed until the New Year. The East Lancashire Railway’s Burrs Country Park Halt was declared open by the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Mike Connolly, when the Gresley ‘A3’ called with the 8.45am Bury-Rawtenstall. Funded by Bury Council and the Caravan Club, the £225,000 platform and its Lancashire & Yorkshire-style shelter were built to serve Burrs caravan park. But no train will be calling there for the rest of this year, as the stop had not been written into this year’s timetable. It will open for passengers on January 1 with the advent of the ELR’s new off-peak ‘green’ timetable. Fears that the station would destroy the ELR’s classic photographic location have not been entirely borne out - for the platform is only long enough for five coaches, instead of the nine originally planned, and will be partially hidden by bushes from some angles. “Five coaches is our normal train length,” explains ELR Financial Director David Layland, “and longer ones will either not stop there, or have stewards to stop people getting off the coaches that aren’t in the platform.”